$77-Per-Hour Question Dogs Middle School's Spring Sports Teams

Some unanswered questions about the club-like sports teams at East Providence’s middle schools, particularly about transportation to and from games, stepped up to the plate at the School Committee meeting Tuesday night. 

Private donations saved the baseball and softball teams at Martin and Riverside middle schools this spring after the budgets for all middle school sports were eliminated by the East Providence Budget Commission last fall. The teams are playing like privately funded club teams against other middle schools that are funded by taxpayer dollars.

But some questions about transportation to and from the games apparently still need some answers, said Paul Amaral, athletics director for the E.P. schools. Those questions were among other questions that did not get answered entirely during the startup effort, he said. 

Specifically, must the students travel back and forth on school buses at a cost of $77 an hour to the two organizations that are bankrolling the teams -- Project 106 and the East Providence Middle School Athletics Booster Club. Or can the teams find other ways to travel? Especially because they officially do not exist like other middle school teams statewide even though they are operating like those teams.

The School Committee sought a legal opinion from its counsel before the meeting, and it seems to indicate that RI law expects “yellow” busses to be used to transport all sports teams. 

But there have been at least two games recently where there was no bus transportation needed to transport the students, said School Committee Vice Chair Timothy Conley. Which has apparently opened up a pandora’s box about liability. 

Jessica Beauchaine, chair of Project 106, said she had no idea that "yellow" bus transportation might not be needed.

“I just write the checks,” Beauchaine said. 

She said that the agreement reached between the two local fundraising groups and school officials, including the RI Principals Committee on Athletics (RIPCOA), that got the middle school baseball and softball teams back on the playing field, seemed to indicate that a school bus had to be the mode of transportation.

If that is not the case, she said, she would like to know as soon as possible because the $77 per hour cost is a major expense for the two organizations, which are splitting all expenses for the four teams right down the middle.

It is not uncommon for parents who travel to their children’s games to take home their kids, and several other kids as well, after games. That helps to negate the need for bus transportation both ways. 

At least one high school team, the golf team, said Amaral, often travels back and forth for home matches at Metacomet Country Club with other means of transportation. Students might even drive themselves if they have a license.

So, must Project 106 and the East Providence Middle School Athletics Booster Club continue to pay for “yellow” bus transportation?  Or can other modes be used to help wipe out the expense of paying for a school bus for 5 or 6 hours at a time for away games?

Stay tuned. The School Committee has asked its legal counsel to again try to find an answer to that $77 an hour question.